Many of Iraq's reconstruction projects are being put on hold after a spate of foreign kidnappings and attacks on convoys in Baghdad, writes Nicolas Pelham in Baghdad
"We'll give it another week. If it doesn't improve, we'll have to leave," said Mr Trevor Holborn of the Amman-based Shaheen Group, one of hundreds of foreign workers who have suspended their operations and headed for shelter inside the walls of the Green Zone, the heavily fortified enclave where the occupation has its headquarters.
"We still have people in Iraq, but we may not able to work on a day to day basis," said a contractor with a big US energy company. "Right now Iraq is not a safe place to work, and the safety of our staff comes first."
The kidnapping of at least 10 foreigners in Iraq has shaken already fragile contractor confidence. The hostages included an employee of the Houston-based company, Kellogg, Brown & Root, which handles supplies and logistics for US forces and the occupation administration and is widely reputed to be one of the best defended companies in the country. Thomas Hamill (43), of Macon, Mississippi, was captured on Friday during a convoy ambush.
Coalition officials say they have contingency plans for an evacuation of civilians, but remain fully staffed. One said it was a "miracle" that none of the scores of mortars and rockets which have rocked the enclave have hit their targets.
British diplomats and some contractors are bunkered down in an underground car-park inside the Green Zone, dubbed the "Batcave". But many American contractors are housed in trailer accommodation. Their sides have been bolstered with sandbags but the soft-top roofs are singularly vulnerable to mortar attack.
Amid continuing negotiations for a ceasefire, insurgents have continued torching convoys carrying food, fuel and other necessities to Baghdad. Coalition authority officials deny the attacks on their supply lines have interrupted the delivery of vital goods, but contractors say Iraqi drivers are shying away from work with the coalition leaving ports clogged with containers.
The coalition's Project Management Office (PMO), which oversees $8 billion of US reconstruction funds, says it is intent on finding Iraqi partners to assist the primary US contractors. Mr John Procterof the PMO said the reconstruction effort was vital if the coalition was to soak up millions of unemployed Iraqis who are a breeding ground for the insurgency. But it was not clear if the coalition would meet its target of employing 50,000 Iraqis by June 30th when the US governor is scheduled to relinquish control. - Financial Times